Dear Abby: Can you stand another "lost love" story like the one about the woman and her American airman? (She signed her letter with the name of a popular song of the '40s, "It's Been a Long, Long Time.")
She asked if she should try to locate her old love whom she had not seen since World War II. It was about the same time I was involved in a very intense, but brief, relationship. It ended because I had a commitment that had to take precedence over our love.For the next 40 years, my old love was never very far from my mind, even though I had no idea whether he was dead or alive.
Then, recently, in an unbelievable stroke of fate, we met face to face, and all the intensity of our feelings for each other came flooding back!
Sounds like a happy ending, right? Wrong! We are still committed to others. Nevertheless, we are both aware that the old flame never went out completely.
No city or state, please. Sign me with the name of another popular song of that era
. . . "That Old Feeling"
Dear Old Feeling: This is the stuff of which dreams (and nightmares) are made. Read on:
Dear Abby: "Bill" and I have been married for more than 40 years. About two years ago, he received a long-distance telephone call at home. It was a voice from out of the past! It seems a woman he had known had been recently widowed and was calling to inquire about Bill's marital status - maybe hoping he was also alone, and they could take up where they had left off many years ago. Can you imagine the nerve?
Bill was practically tongue-tied, but he told her politely that he had been very much married for a good many years.
I realize that times have changed, and women are much more aggressive these days and anything goes, but calling a man at his home not knowing the circumstances is a little too much, don't you think?
- Upset on Long Island
Dear Upset: Don't be upset - the poor woman probably was alone and reminiscing. You can't blame a woman for inquiring. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Dear Abby: Your "Operation Abby" is a big hit here in Korea. I have picked up several letters that your readers have sent, and I am currently corresponding with 10 people from the U.S.A. I am even writing to a class of schoolchildren.
Without Operation Abby, it would have been a very lonely holiday for many of us. I am a 32-year-old single man, and this isn't my first time being far from home during the holidays.
I want to let the folks back home know that they can sleep soundly at night because there are a lot of dedicated men and women here who are willing to lay down their lives for their country.
And I want to express my heartfelt thanks to you and wish all the caring people of the greatest nation on earth a Happy New Year. Thank you, Abby, from the bottom of our collective hearts.
- Grateful in Korea
1992 Universal Press Syndicate